


Not Just Because of the Cold

by Umekopyon



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, F/F, Genderswap, Insecurity, Misunderstandings, Name-Calling, Valentine's Day, rated for language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 10:53:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29434887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Umekopyon/pseuds/Umekopyon
Summary: [Genderswap AU] Hinata didn't have a great track record with Valentine's Day confessions, and this time... wasn't going to work out, either.  But at least she was going to try.
Relationships: Hinata Hajime/Kuzuryu Fuyuhiko
Kudos: 20





	Not Just Because of the Cold

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Valentine's Day! This is a continuation of the genderswap AU I established in Planetarium - the relevant chapters are [Chapter 14](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16489499/chapters/38965043) and [Chapter 27](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16489499/chapters/39365380). I recommend you read those first, but I guess you don't... have to...?
> 
> If you _don't_ read those first, just be aware that male!Peko's name is "Fujiya." (I _have_ since discovered that the candy mascot Peko does have a male counterpart named Poko, but that's an unbelievably silly name, so Fujiya it shall remain.)
> 
> Because I'm predictable af, the title comes from the lyrics of a BUMP OF CHICKEN song, "embrace." Yeah.
> 
> Anyway, please enjoy!

"Hey, Hinata, how does this look?!"

It took a moment for Hajime Hinata to come back down to earth, a bit annoyed that she had been interrupted from her thoughts, but she quickly remembered that she _had_ been the one to agree to help her classmate out. Stepping away from her own work, she turned to look at the over-decorated chocolate heart that Kazuna Souda was now brandishing.

"Um... it looks fine, I guess?" she said, fully aware of how unhelpful her input was. She wasn't a particularly artsy person. She had told Souda as much when the fuschia-haired girl had begged for help crafting Valentine's chocolate for that one rich European boy she had such a huge crush on.

"You're still better than me!" she had whined. "I'm just a science gal, all I'm good at is mechanics!"

Fortunately, in the moment, Hinata's half-hearted assurance seemed to be enough for Souda, who answered with a toothy grin. "You think he'll like it, then?"

Hinata took another look at the big chocolate heart, decorated with white chocolate dyed into gaudy neon colors. "Um... well, I don't know the guy, so I can't say, but at the very least, it's obvious there's a lot of... passion. I think it's good."

"Heck yeah there's a lot of passion!" Souda pumped her fist before grabbing the piping bag of hot pink chocolate again. "Gonna squeeze as much passion into this thing as I can!"

Hinata smiled weakly, only half-listening to Souda's rambling about the European boy as she turned back to her own chocolate heart, brow furrowing in consideration. It was looking a bit plain still, but what sort of decoration would be best? Would it be weird if she crushed up karinto and dusted the edges with the crumbs? That might be weird. It might not even taste good.

"Hinata? What are you even—"

Yeah, maybe she should give up on that idea. But she was drawing a blank on how else to personalize the—

"No _way_!"

Hinata jumped, shocked by the volume and proximity of her friend's voice, then looked down to see that Souda had come to stand right next to her. "Huh?!"

"I thought you were just messing around to kill time, but don't tell me you're actually making this _for_ someone? You never told me there was a guy you like!"

"Wh-what?! No, that's wrong!" Hinata raised her hands defensively and shook her head, feeling her cheeks start to grow warm.

"Oh, yeah right." The surprise on Souda's face melted into a grin, and she poked a finger in the middle of Hinata's brow playfully before being swatted away. "Those eyebrow wrinkles tell me everything I need to know. That's some _serious_ thought going into this chocolate. You're _totally_ planning to give this to a guy."

"I'm really not..."

Technically, she wasn't lying.

"Okay, fine, keep your secrets." Souda took a step back, reaching her arms above her head and arching her back in a stretch. " _Man_ , mixing chocolate is a killer. You sure you want to do this, though? Didn't you say your sixth-grade crush called you a gigantic monster when you tried giving him Valentine chocolate?"

Hinata grimaced. "Well thanks for _that_ reminder..."

"I'm just worried about you, girl." She lowered her arms and leveled her friend with a serious stare. "I'm not gonna say you can't come crying to me after or anything, but I'd prefer if you don't set yourself up for disappointment in the first place. You sure this guy isn't an asshole too?"

Hinata stared down at her sparsely-decorated chocolate. She could understand Souda's concerns, sure, but it wasn't like this was a childish crush on a boy she had barely even spoken to.

No, she'd been close friends with Fuyumi Kuzuryu for more than half a year now.

The tips of her ears burned at the mere thought of the petite blonde and she fought to keep her heart rate under control. It had been several months since Hinata had been able to place a name to her feelings for the other girl, and it was getting harder to keep quiet about them. It just felt more and more that she was hiding the truth from her friend, and she hated that. She wanted to let her know, even if Hinata was rejected in the process.

And besides...

_"See? You're totally cute, Hinata."_

Face warm, she brushed her fingertips along the edge of her ear, feeling the ghost of fluttering silk petals. Yeah. At the very least, Kuzuryu didn't find Hinata repulsive. Even when she was turned down, Kuzuryu wouldn't be demeaning about it.

"I'll... be fine," she said at length. "They're not an asshole. Not in the least. I just really want them to know how important they are to me."

Souda studied her expression for a moment longer, lips pursed pensively, before finally breaking out in a pointed grin. "Well, in that case, lemme help you decorate!"

"Ah— what?" Hinata glanced nervously at the psychedelic mess of color on Souda's side of the kitchen counter and waved her hands in dismissal. "No, that's— it's fine! I think I can manage..."

"Aww, no need to hold back! Here, how about some lime green?!"

"No— Souda...!!"

* * *

February 14th brought with it a cold snap and grey clouds that foretold of snowfall, but as Hinata walked the practiced route to Kuzuryu's school, she still couldn't help but worry that the sheer intensity of her flushed skin might seep through the box she held and melt the chocolate she had worked so hard to make.

She had, eventually, acquiesced to adding some color to the chocolate heart— but _only_ a soft golden yellow. The rest of the decoration remained in the muted shades of chocolate and buttercream, simple florets along the edge and piped letters reading "Happy Valentine's Day!"

And, in the end, she had sprinkled the florets with crumbled karinto, after all.

It wasn't the most exciting chocolate by any stretch of the imagination, but Hinata liked to think that, if you squinted and maybe looked at it from an angle, it sort of looked a little elegant. Just a bit.

She exited the train station closest to Kuzuryu's school, heart pounding at the base of her throat, and rushed along the familiar route, hoping against hope that she wouldn't be too late to catch Kuzuryu as she left for the day. She hadn't had the nerve to text her friend ahead of time to tell her she'd be coming, so Kuzuryu certainly wouldn't be waiting for her, after all.

Hinata had had to skip her last class in order to make it in time, sure, but she didn't want to lose her chance (or her nerve).

School bells echoed from two blocks away, and Hinata increased her pace, turning the next corner too fast and just barely stopping herself before running headfirst into someone also heading for the school.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was—" The words immediately dried up in her throat when she looked up into the cool, questioning gaze of Fujiya Pekoyama.

Ah. Right. She hadn't taken that factor into consideration.

Hinata's mouth flapped uselessly for a beat. What should she say...? She was about to go confess to Kuzuryu, and she... didn't really want Pekoyama there as a spectator. She could feel her cheeks flushing further. What was she supposed to tell the boy to get him to keep away for at least a little bit, without giving away her intentions?

Still silent, Pekoyama glanced briefly to the box in Hinata's hands before tilting his head minutely, his eyes redirecting to stare thoughtfully into the distance. Finally, he jerkily removed his schoolbag from his shoulder and opened it up, making a show of rummaging ineffectually through it. "Ah. I forgot something."

Hinata blinked at him; the statement had been monotone, not at all sounding like someone who had actually left something behind. "Huh?"

"I need to go back to my school. Please tell the Miss that I'll be a bit late."

Hinata watched blankly as Pekoyama closed his bag again, retreated a few steps, and then bowed toward her before heading back the way he had come.

It took only a moment longer for Hinata to piece together what had just happened, but once she did, she was absolutely sure that she was about to combust. She was torn between being absolutely mortified that he had figured out what she was going to do, or being grateful that he had given them space, clumsy though his cover story may have been.

She settled on bowing towards him in return, just before he disappeared around another corner. _Thank you, Pekoyama! You might want to work on your acting skills, but thank you!_

Spending barely a second longer to gather herself again, Hinata resumed her trek, arriving at the school gates just as the first students were beginning to trickle out. She stood just to the side, far enough away that she wouldn't be blocking anyone's path, but with enough visibility that she could spot Kuzuryu as she left.

Yet Hinata very nearly missed Kuzuryu at first glance anyway, having to do a double-take when she did spot her friend. Rather than being pinned up in its normal crown braid, Kuzuryu's hair was flowing freely in long, golden waves over her narrow shoulders.

Hinata winced as her heart seemed to clench. God, could she get any more _adorable_?

But it wasn't the time for that. Steeling herself, Hinata called out to get her attention. "Kuzuryu!"

The small girl took notice of her immediately and quickly made her way over to where Hinata stood. "Hinata?" she said, looking a bit perplexed. "We didn't... have plans to hang out today, did we?"

"Oh, no, no!" Hinata shook her head. "Nothing like that, I just... wanted to come talk to you real quick. Sorry for coming by without notice."

"Nah, it's fine." Kuzuryu brushed a long strand of hair behind her ear as she peeked over her shoulder at her schoolmates. "Do you wanna head around the corner or something, then? Not as many people around there."

"O-oh, sure!" Hinata readily agreed, relieved that she wouldn't have to come up with her own excuse to have less of an audience, and followed Kuzuryu around the street corner, stopping at a spot just beneath the branches of a ginkgo tree that extended over the school gate.

"Guess this is good enough," Kuzuryu commented, tucking her hair back again.

"Ah, yeah," Hinata agreed, somewhat distracted by the movement. "Um, your hair looks really nice today, by the way."

Kuzuryu blinked. "Oh, yeah... thanks." She looked down and fiddled with the strands spilling over her shoulders. "It's kind of a pain because I'm not used to it getting in my face, but it's too cold to put it up. Figured it might as well make itself useful as an extra scarf of sorts."

 _Cute cute cute!_ "Ah... makes sense." They were silent for a beat. "Oh, I ran into Pekoyama on the way here, but he said he had to get something he forgot at school so he'll be late..."

"He doesn't have to come by at _all_ , shit..." Kuzuryu mumbled, her brow furrowing in irritation. "But forget about him. What's up, Hinata? What did you want to talk about?"

Pinned by that golden gaze, Hinata froze up. "Ah... right." Her fingers clenched around the box she held close to her chest; she probably couldn't get away with stalling any longer, even if she could think of any other banal topics to bring up.

But it was just chocolate, right? She was just a girl giving chocolate to another girl friend. It didn't have to be that big of a deal.

But she didn't want Kuzuryu to think it _wasn't_ that big of a deal to her.

Hinata took a deep breath and finally extended her arms, offering the box to Kuzuryu. "Here. This is for you."

Kuzuryu blinked owlishly at the proffered box. "For me? Chocolate?"

"Yeah."

"For Valentine's Day?"

Hinata nodded, no longer trusting herself to vocalize actual human words as head spread across her face.

"I... thanks." Kuzuryu took the box from Hinata's hands, grinning up at her lopsidedly. "Sorry I didn't get you anything though..."

"No, that's— you didn't have to!" Hinata shook her hands in front of her. "I'm not expecting you to! I just..."

All words dried up in Hinata's throat under Fuyumi Kuzuryu's bright gaze and she instead turned her focus to the ground, to the shadows of the barren ginkgo branches, to the scuff marks on her stupid, ugly, men's-size loafers. With her heart beating a frenzied rhythm at the base of her throat, she took a deep breath.

"I really like you, Kuzuryu."

There was silence, and Hinata couldn't bear to look up to see what sort of expression Kuzuryu was making. But the silence was expected. Of course she wouldn't expect Kuzuryu to give her an answer. And even if she did, it wasn't going to be—

"I like you too, Hinata."

Hinata's heart shuddered in her chest, and she felt the briefest moment of relieved euphoria—oh my god, she liked her back, it was _mutual_ —

_"Who would like a giant, ugly monster like you?!"_

Those bitter cold words from four years earlier, colder than the air surrounding them as snow flurries began to alight upon the sidewalk, brought Hinata back to reality. No. Kuzuryu had just misunderstood. And it was a misunderstanding that would be so easy to play along with, to laugh off the incident and effortlessly fall back into being Just Friends like always, but—

No. That wasn't fair to either of them. She had to tell the truth, had to make sure that Kuzuryu understood...

"That's... Kuzuryu, that's not the sort of 'like' that I meant."

Silence again, and it stretched on for longer this time as the flurries began to increase in frequency. Hinata felt the prickle of tears threatening to form, but she couldn't cry, not yet, not in front of Kuzuryu. She wouldn't. But just in case, she kept staring resolutely at the ground.

"Oh," Kuzuryu said finally. She was quiet for another second or two before she gave a short, shuddering laugh. "Well, that just made things a fuckton more awkward, huh?"

And there it was; Hinata knew that she couldn't fight the tears any longer. Suppressing her incoming breakdown as best as she could, she hurriedly excused herself with an apology and made her exit, pointedly avoiding meeting Kuzuryu's eyes as she left.

It was a weight off her shoulders at least, though. Now all she had to do was cry it out and forget, again, that that unrequited crush had ever happened at all.

* * *

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_> Hinata_

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_> HINATA_

  
  
  
  
  


_> Holy shit Hinata you're such an idiot_

_> Scratch that, I'M the idiot_

_> Look, we're both idiots, fuck_

_> (Fuyumi Kuzuryu sent a sticker)_

_> What kind of "like" were YOU talking about?!_

_> Because this sure as FUCK isn't just obligation chocolate!_

_> Are you seeing these messages?!_

Hinata was seeing the messages, of course—the LINE notifications kept interrupting her YouTube binge, but she was trying her hardest to ignore them. Acknowledging them, reading into them, even just opening the app to mark them as read was too frightening of a prospect at the moment.

All she wanted to do was to shut off her brain and stay curled up under the kotatsu, turned up to maximum heat in the hopes that her stupid, too-long legs might melt away to nothing, while watching an endless stream of drama gossip videos on beauty vloggers she had never heard of nor cared about. Maybe she could cheer herself up with the thought that their dumpster fires of lives were even worse than her own and she'd feel better.

So far, though, neither the schadenfreude nor the self-immolation were working out as she had hoped.

_> Where are you right now??_

Hinata afforded the notification only the briefest of glances before redirecting her focus yet again, waiting for the stream to resume. She shouldn't think about the messages. She had to ignore them.

Because it almost seemed like they were suggesting she had made yet another mistake, that everything _wasn't_ as she had thought, that they might actually give her a hope that she shouldn't dare consider.

The past two hours had put her emotions through the wringer quite enough; she wasn't ready to be dragged into yet another direction. She was just so, so tired.

Hinata jumped as her phone buzzed in her hand, this time with a voice call instead of a text, and in a panic, she rejected the call immediately.

_Oh, crap._

The very next instant had her stomach pooling with regret and dread. There went her last shred of plausible deniability. Kuzuryu would know for sure that it wasn't a case of Hinata's phone being left unattended; she actually had it in hand and was actively ignoring the messages.

_> Hinata, I know you're there!_

_> (Fuyumi Kuzuryu sent a sticker)_

_> Look I just want to talk!_

Fervently shaking her head, Hinata dismissed the notifications as quickly as they appeared, determined to shield herself from the situation for as long as she could manage. No, no, _no_ , nothing good could come from this, at least not right now, she just couldn't—

_FWUMP_

The soft sound made Hinata startle again, and she sat up in confusion, looking in the direction it had come from and seeing a patch of snow stuck to the door to the veranda, slowly sliding down the glass. What...? Had it blown off of the eaves somehow? She was pretty sure the snow hadn't piled up enough to clump up like that though...

As she stared at the door, a second, smaller snowball collided with it, and this time she scooted out from the kotatsu and stepped over to the door, pulling her hanten tight around her for warmth before sliding the door open to see what was going on.

"Oh, thank fuck you're at home!"

The voice she heard as soon as she poked her head outside made Hinata's stomach drop, but she still found herself rushing to the veranda's edge to make sure she wasn't suffering from auditory hallucinations. "Kuzuryu?!"

Sure enough, the petite girl was standing on the sidewalk, grinning up cheekily, bare pavement extending in a two-meter radius away from her, contrasting the thin coating of snow as if it were a spotlight shining down on her.

"Good thing you came out, too, 'cause I'm running out of snow to chuck at your apartment!"

"Yeah, I can see... tha—" The retort died on Hinata's lips as reality came crashing back down on her, and with her face paling, she pushed herself away from the railing and backed away towards the door.

"Hey, wait, I just want to talk!"

"Sorry, I just... I can't..." Hinata fumbled with the ice-cold door handle.

"Look, you don't have anything to be afraid of!"

With panicked tears prickling at her eyes, Hinata managed to wrench the door open and retreat back inside.

"Just tell me what—"

Kuzuryu's voice was cut off as Hinata shut and locked the door, then pressed herself against the adjacent wall as if she could just disappear as long as she was out of sight.

She took a deep breath, willing her heartbeat to settle down, when Kuzuryu's voice reached her ears again, muffled through glass and distance.

"Well, fine! If you're not going to tell me what kind of like _you_ meant..."

Hinata shook her head, wrenching her eyes shut and moving to cover her ears. No, no, no. This wasn't going to turn out well, she couldn't bear to hear it, she had to—

"HAJIME!!!"

And Hinata ceased to breathe.

Her hands slowly dropped from her face—they hadn't reached her ears yet, but even if they had, she was sure that the sound of Kuzuryu's voice calling her first name would still have resounded through her heart as clearly as if the other girl was standing right in front of her.

Hajime. _Hajime._

"The kind of like that _I_ meant..."

Hinata's heart jumped into her throat. No, this wasn't happening. Was Kuzuryu really going to keep on yelling outside her apartment like that?

Panicked, she pushed herself off the wall and dashed to the front door, hastily slipping on her shoes. This wasn't good. This was _so far_ from good.

"...is the kind of like..."

Hinata ran out of her apartment and slammed the elevator button, before immediately deciding it was too slow and going for the stairs, leaping down them five steps at a time. Thank god for her long legs, because she had to hurry and stop her. People were going to hear...

"...where I want to hold your hand and cuddle..."

People were going to misunderstand...

"...and hug you and all that mushy shit!!"

 _Hinata herself_ was going to misunderstand.

Finally reaching the ground floor, Hinata burst out of the building entrance, heavy breaths turning to white mist before her, and locked eyes with Kuzuryu just two meters away, her fists clenched and breath similarly ragged from her yelling spree.

"Well," Kuzuryu breathed, frowning and rubbing at her cherry-red nose, "is that the kind of like _you_ were talking about?"

Hinata sucked in a breath, the frigid air freezing all words at the base of her throat. No, this couldn't be real.

_"Who would like a giant, ugly monster like you?!"_

It just couldn't.

And yet as she stepped forward into the snow and wrapped Kuzuryu in a hug, the warmth within her arms was the realest thing she could remember.

"Now that's more like it," Kuzuryu said, her voice muffled against Hinata's hanten as she reached her arms around to return the embrace. "Was that really worth being so scared about?"

"I wasn't scared," Hinata muttered, indignant.

"Uh-huh."

"...I wasn't scared of _you_ ," she amended. "I could never be scared of you."

"I guess I'll take that as a compliment," Kuzuryu laughed. "So what _were_ you scared of?"

Hinata thought back to those cruel words, the ones that had hung over her like a phantom, and found herself arriving at a surprising truth.

"You know what?" she said, her eyes falling closed contentedly as she held Kuzuryu tight. "It doesn't even matter anymore."

**Author's Note:**

> Valentine's Day in Japan today was actually rather warm with a side of earthquake aftershocks but lemme indulge in my snowy fantasies for a bit ok
> 
> In the coming days I may have an epilogue in comic form if I can find the file where I stashed the drawings months ago ahahaha


End file.
